Peter Posted January 11, 2010 Share Posted January 11, 2010 I had a fan belt split lenthways not too long ago. Part of the belt seemed to pick up some oily paper towel from somewhere and it exploded all over the engine, thought at first it was a bird gone in though the rad. Since then after replacing the belt have been having a hell of a noise from the front of the engine - sounds like an unlubricated bearing noise. Am not convinced its the tensioner (yet to replace). But did find I had to remove bits of paper towel stripes from front vent holes of alternator. On advice took the belt off and gave all the pulleys a shake. Found the one on the timing belt cover to be - what I thought to be loose. A few hundred quid later and trip to garage had the cover and pulley replaced. Noise still exists. The reason I did not think it was the tensioner is its not constant. But seems to get worse/louder as the revs increase - am not prepared to play the game or pay the price of replacing every moving part on the engine. So wonder if anyone can say from the above what the probable cause of this noise is. Have a 100amp Alternator BTW, and relatively new turbo (and is not turbo whistle or lacking power). New fan belt has not made any difference. And after having timing cover replaced noise was still evident but only on acceleration. Kinda buzzing metallic scraping noise very very loud at 56mph and get worse as speed increases. So need to know if you all reckon its alternator or tensioner - as is related to engine speed and power of engine. oh and my Heater 10amp fuses keep blowing - not sure if related as cannot remember when that started to happen. Thanks in advance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tetsu0san Posted January 12, 2010 Share Posted January 12, 2010 Have you run the engine without the fan belt on? This should tell you if it's on the fan belt or not. If it does prove to be the tensioner, you can just replace the bearing rather than the whole thing. I can't remember the part number of the bearing, but it's an off the shelf part. If the noise doesn't go away when you are not running the fan belt then it could be an idler/tensioner on the cam belt. To be honest, due to your fuse blowing it sounds like the alternator. Spin this up without the fan belt on and have a listen. Another way to fault find is to get a piece of tubing (something like some stiff fuel pipe) and stick on end in your ear and the other end hold on or near a moving part while the engine is running. You can hear all sorts of noises this way that you just can't hear with the naked ear. This should also help you to find out what the problems are. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
defender dave Posted January 12, 2010 Share Posted January 12, 2010 you could also try a bit of greece on the tensioner wheel as that is on the back of the belt that is what i did on my belt and the noise went strait away Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dads Toy Posted January 12, 2010 Share Posted January 12, 2010 Sounds like you've got the Defender "chirping" noise. All sorts of remedies suggested for this one. What make of belt have you put on? Some reckon only genuine or Dayco don't squeak. Did you clean all the pulleys before you put it on? Sometimes dirt in those can cause it. New tensioner bearing is another supposed cure but didn't make any difference with mine. My favourite "answer" is the "penny" According to some, the tensioner runs out of line and as it's a design fault they're not going to remedy it so you undo the bolt that holds the tensioner to the block, put a 1p coin behind it at 9-o-clock position and then tighten up and the sound goes - apparently! I don't think your heater fuse blowing is relevant, I suspect that's something different i.e. the heater blower motor or resistor. As already suggested, if you run the engine without the belt then it will be obvious if it's the crank pulley bearing. Spinning the alternator by hand should give you an idea if it's that as will the water pump. Malcolm ps mine still chirps! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
errol209 Posted January 12, 2010 Share Posted January 12, 2010 oh and my Heater 10amp fuses keep blowing - not sure if related as cannot remember when that started to happen. Mine did this - the motor is starting to get gummed up by fluff, salt, dust, mud, etc. Heater box out, fan out, remove any errant leaves and small rodents, spray between motor and fan with copious amounts of WD40, leave, do it again, leave, drain the excess oil off, check the motor runs properly, reassemble. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Litch Posted January 12, 2010 Share Posted January 12, 2010 My 300TDi with original tensioner & (replacement) Dayco belt only squeeled occasionally. I replaced the belt & tensioner for new Dayco replacements when I did the cambelt a few months ago and it has squeeled almost constantly since then! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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